Reading Material
by Beckslee
Summary: When Jefferson goes to the sheriff's office to ask a favour he isn't expecting the "welcome" he gets.


This is a little idea I had about Jefferson catching Emma with the book _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. _If anyone else would like to try that prompt feel free.

This is set sometime after Emma and Snow get back from FTL, and there are no real spoilers anywhere.

They aren't mine. If I had any control over OUAT, Sebastian Stan would have been made a regular cast member from day 1.

* * *

The sheriff growled as she slammed the phone down, this day was NOT going well. Emma picked up the nearest thing which happened to be a book off the top of a pile and threw it at the door. Instead of the expected satisfying crash, she opened her eyes when she heard a dull thud and and a yell. Instantly on guard she backed behind the desk, since her return she'd only seen Jefferson from a distance and had been happy to keep it that way as long as he didn't cause any trouble. The last place she expected to see him was her office.

"What are you doing here?" Jefferson ignored her as he bent to retrieve the book that had hit him in the face, "Do you always throw literature at people who come to visit you?" he rubbed his forehead, "I could have lost an eye" his tone was pleasant, but Emma didn't let her guard down. He took a few steps forward still rubbing his face.

Drawing her gun, Emma repeated her question, "Jefferson, why are you here?" The hatter stopped and put his hands up in surrender. "I'm not here for me, its about our kids." Emma lowered her gun but didn't relax. "What about Henry?"

Keeping eye contact, Jefferson slowly lowered his hands, "Did you know that Grace and Henry are friends?" Emma shrugged, "I knew they were in the same class..." He nodded, "They are and they get on really well apparently. Yesterday Grace asked if Henry could come around after school." He grimaced, "she obviously doesn't know why that would be a problem, so I told her I'd talk to you about it first."

Emma stiffened, the thought of letting Henry go into that house was uncomfortable to say the least. The hatter read her expression and his face fell. "Emma please, don't punish my daughter for what I did. Now that I have her back I want her have a normal life in this strange land, one with friends. I will do anything you want, I'll beg, you can hit me, hell, throw that entire pile of books at me. I don't care, just let her have this."

She had seen that look in his eye before. It was heartfelt, vulnerable and went straight to her core. The last time she had seen that look it had taken every bit of strength that she had to follow through with her plan of hitting him over the head with his own telescope. Shaking her head, Emma looked at him, "Jefferson your track record with my family in that house hasn't been great, I would prefer if my son wasn't part of that statistic."

"I realise that Emma and I'll do anything you say, you can come with Henry to look after him if you like, anything." Emma stared at him, "And an invitation back to the house where I was drugged and bound _really_ wasn't what I was looking for today Jefferson." Emma holstered her gun and folded her arms across her chest.

Jefferson sighed, "I know and I'm sorry, I know this is awkward, but I'd do anything for Grace - you know that better than most. What can I do?"

Rubbing at the bridge of her nose, Emma closed her eyes, "I have no problem with Henry and Grace being friends, its you Jefferson, I don't trust you, and I certainly don't trust my son to your care. From what I've seen recently I don't think you'd do anything, but I'm not willing to test that theory."

Nodding, Jefferson looked at his feet, "I'll tell Grace its not happening." He turned to leave until Emma called out, "no, wait!" He looked at her again, "I said I'm fine with them being friends, just not being at your house, would Grace like to come to our house to play?"

The smile she received was beautiful, "Thank you Emma... now do you want to throw more books at me or will..." He glanced at the spine of the book in his hands and came to a stop. An eyebrow arched and he held the cover out to face her, "reading about me Sheriff?"

Emma blushed, by coincidence the book she had thrown was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. "Not just about you Jefferson, I have every fairytale the bookshop held," she gestured at the pile of books next to her, "I figured that given what this town is I should brush up - not everything is in Henry's book."

"And I'm at the top of the list, what can I say - I'm flattered." Emma inwardly groaned, the last thing she needed was this man finding meanings in her reading choices. She straightened her shoulders, "look if that's all you needed to talk to me about, I should get back to work. I'll tell Henry to invite Grace over one night next week."

Jefferson stepped closer to the desk and handed Emma the book, "I'll be off then," he hesitated briefly, "I appreciate this, Emma, you have no idea how much -" he ran out of words briefly and a puzzled expression crossed his face as he searched for something else to say, "- I'd better go."

Watching his retreating back, Emma called out one more time, the hatter spun to face her, "maybe you could come with Grace..." she questioned her own sanity, what was she doing? "I mean, if our kids are friends, we're probably going to see a bit of each other, right? It makes sense for me to get to know you a bit more."

A soft smile grew on his face, "I'd like that... and maybe we could eventually be friends too?" Emma returned the smile hesitantly, "yeah maybe, _eventually_." Emma watched as Jefferson continued out the door. Once he turned the corner out of sight, the sheriff sat in her chair and flipped the book open to her marked page - Chapter _7 - A Mad Tea-Party_.

THE END


End file.
